I bought a MIA-IAH-LAX-OGG-HNL-EWR-MIA-IAH-SFO flight a while ago on CO.com for $570.21. Unfortunately, my "positioning" flight (SFO-CLT-MIA) was on a separate PNR on US and went mechanical, so rather than possibly being stranded in MIA, I chose to deplane. I went home and cancelled the CO ticket. I shortly received an e-mail as follows

Mr. maradoriReservation, XXXXXX, was cancelled and the value of your ticket can be applied to future travel on Continental Airlines. Please note the confirmation number for your reservation. When you are ready to travel again, return to this cancelled reservation in Manage Reservations to make changes for a future trip.

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Learning a very painful lesson about booking "ambitious" MRs without sufficient backup plans, I think I'm going to stick with doing $300 r/t transcons for the next little while. I'm worried that if I'm able to find and book a $300 r/t transcon ticket, what will happen with the remaining value of my cancelled flight? Is it available for another ticket (ew, does that mean I pay 2 change fees?), or is it forfeit?

Would anybody be able to shed some light on this for me? What's the best way to handle this stored value?

You pay the change fee of $150 and are left with residual value of $420.41 on your ticket. In my experience, you can't use half of it and bank the rest for later, but have to use it all up in one transaction. It can also only be applied to one ticket in your name (eg, can't use it for your spouse's ticket).

In my experience, you can't use half of it and bank the rest for later, but have to use it all up in one transaction. It can also only be applied to one ticket in your name (eg, can't use it for your spouse's ticket).

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CO TCVs absolutely do have residual value and can be used for any passenger. The original rebooking must be done in the name of the original passenger but any residual value that is issued as a TCV can be redeemed for any customer to travel.

CO TCVs absolutely do have residual value and can be used for any passenger. The original rebooking must be done in the name of the original passenger but any residual value that is issued as a TCV can be redeemed for any customer to travel.

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Ok, so the bit about using the residual value for another passenger is new to me and good to know. Is my recollection that it must be used in a single transaction accurate? If not, then I'm probably confusing experiences with other airlines.

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